Daydreamer

Felix

“I said leave me alone,” I muttered as the door cracked open. In general, this had been working. Everyone was treading on eggshells around me, but if that kept all the bastards away, I was happy. I just wanted to be left to wallow in this misery on my own. So what if Lucy had turned out to be just like that cheating bitch, Lydia? I’d get over it. I refused to acknowledge the small issue of my broken heart. That would make me weak, and I’d learnt long ago that weakness of any kind was not to be tolerated. No, Lucy hadn’t broken my heart. I was just pissed off. How had I been gullible enough to let this happen a second time? Another wave of fury washed over me. I was going to focus on that and not the dull ache in my chest or the throbbing behind my eyes.

The most galling thing was the fact I couldn’t get Lucy’s shocked expression out of my head or how devastated she looked when I asked for her to be removed. I hadn’t slept at all last night. Christ, she’d let me down in the worst way, and I still couldn’t help worrying if she was okay, which was absolutely ridiculous.

My father’s laughter from five years ago rang in my head again after I’d found out what he’d done:

“Well, you’ve learned a lesson there, haven’t you, boy? Trust is for the weak, and love makes you a victim.”

I gritted my teeth, but then, just like before, another voice followed my father’s:

“It can feel scary to trust people, Felix. But if you won’t take the risk, you’ll never be truly happy. You have to live life with an open heart.”

Henry Mayweather believed in the essential goodness of people. My father would have called him weak too, but I knew Henry had been anything but.

“The police are here.”

My head snapped up at that statement. Tabitha was just inside the doorway now, wringing her hands in a most un-Tabitha-like gesture of discomfort.

“What?”

Tabitha bit her lip, and for some reason I felt panic crawl up my throat. Why was she looking so hesitant and worried? Was Lucy okay? I shot out of my seat.

“What’s going on?”

Tabitha glanced out of the office and when she looked back at me, I noticed her face was very pale. “They’re questioning Will.”

I frowned. “Why would they be questioning Will? Shit, I told him that I didn’t want to report Lucy.”

Tabitha shook her head in short jerks, her face, if anything, paler still. “No, no, you don’t understand.”

“What don’t I understand?”

“They’re here for Will.”

“What?”

“Mr Moretti?” A uniformed officer was at the door to the office now behind Tabitha, who moved aside to let him pass. “Can I have a word?”

“I–I, yes, of course, officer.” My mind was racing now. Here for Will? What did that even mean? “Tabitha, I’ll see you in⁠—”

“It would be helpful if Ms Montgomery stayed, actually,” the officer said, and Tabitha sank down into the office chair which Lucy had sat in yesterday, making my stomach drop even further. “I’m Constable Mitchell. Grant.”

“Right, er… okay. Grant, what’s this about?”

“Mr Brent has been arrested for assault.”

I blinked and felt my throat tighten. “What?” I forced out.

“Assault,” the helpful Grant repeated. “An incident which happened here yesterday involving a former employee, a…” Grant broke off to check his notepad, and I had to hold back the urge to leap over the desk and shake him, “… a Miss Lucy Mayweather.”

“What?” I shouted, adrenaline surging through my body as Grant’s words started to sink in. “Where is she?” I strode around the desk, heading to the door. My only thought was to find Lucy and make sure she was okay.

“Mr Moretti,” Grant had blocked my exit. “Calm down. I need to get your statement about today’s events.”

“Where’s Lucy?” I said, my voice coming out as a frustrated growl. “Is she okay? Listen, I’ll talk to you after I see Lucy for myself.”

“Mr Moretti,” Tabitha said, getting up from the chair and joining Grant to try to block me. “Please, Felix. Lucy’s okay. Just please listen to Constable Mitchell before you go off half-cocked.” I glanced at her pinched expression and pulled my hands through my hair in an attempt to get a hold of myself.

“Right, okay,” I ground out. “What the hell happened?” I looked between Grant and Tabitha. Tabitha looked away and crossed her arms over her chest, her shoulders hunching in on herself. Something was really wrong here.

“I should have said something about Will,” she said in a small voice.

“What?” I asked as that dread spread out from my stomach. “What are you talking about, TBea?”

“Let’s start with establishing the facts,” Grant cut in, gesturing for me to walk back away from the door, which I did reluctantly but I did not take my seat again, preferring to stand with my arms crossed, facing Grant. “At approximately ten o’clock yesterday morning, following a meeting with HR, Miss Mayweather attempted to retrieve her belongings from her desk.”

“Retrieve her belongings? But Lucy was still working here then,” I put in, my eyebrows lowering into a frown.

“She was advised to leave the building for the week after another incident with Mr Brent which occurred the day before,” Grant said calmly, and I felt blood rush to my head, leaving my ears ringing. “Your HR manager said that Miss Mayweather had spoken to her about the incident yesterday morning.”

“What incident?” I barked out.

“Mr Brent grabbed her wrist, causing significant bruising and was verbally aggressive,” Grant said, still looking down at his notebook as he recited the facts.

“What?” I exploded, my fists bunching at my sides. Grant’s head shot up at that and he frowned at me. “He did what?”

“Felix,” TBea said. “Let him finish. Take a deep breath. It’s not going to help anything if you’re not calm.”

“It’s all documented with your HR department,” Grant went on in that annoyingly calm voice. “As I said before, after she reported this initial incident of physical assault, your HR manager thought it best that she give Miss Mayweather the remainder of the week off. However, I believe that there were some of Miss Mayweather’s belongings that she needed, including a notebook, so she had to come back to the office to retrieve it, hoping to do this prior to Mr Brent arriving back from a meeting. Unfortunately, he was in the office when she arrived and made another attack on Miss Mayweather. This time, throwing her against a wall. She has bruising to her shoulder, back, head and wrist.”

“That – that can’t be true,” I said in a hoarse voice, feeling my chest tighten in panic. “Will wouldn’t do that. Surely there’s been a mistake.”

“It’s all been recorded on the camera facing Miss Mayweather’s desk.”

“Camera?”

“I had it installed last year,” TBea said in a small voice, and my heart sank further. “It’s a nanny cam. Only starts recording with movement.”

“TBea, why would you have a camera installed?”

“You’ve got to understand,” she said, her voice now choked with emotion. “I never thought he’d be dangerous.” Her nose was red now and her eyes had filled with tears. “He was just a sleazy shit, and I’d had enough of it. I thought if I had documented evidence, then it wouldn’t be just his word against mine. So, I set up the camera. But then Lucy started and I moved desks to work for you, and I didn’t think to…” she broke off with a small sob. “I didn’t think to warn her or to check if she was okay. To be honest I forgot about the camera completely. I swear I didn’t know he was still doing it.”

“Still doing what?”

She threw her hands up as another tear fell. “He was handsy, he’d say things to get a rise out of me, he cornered me a couple of times. All typical alpha bullshit stuff.”

“What the fuck, TBea? Typical stuff? Jesus Christ, I had no idea Brent was doing this shit. Why didn’t you tell me? I would have ripped him apart.”

“It was all just low-level bullshit,” TBea said in a broken voice, and I felt harsh for snapping at her. “But I got a bad vibe from him. A scary vibe. So, I set up the camera. And Felix, I’m sorry, but this office does not invite communication. There’s a put up and shut up unspoken rule here. You know there is.” In the back of my mind, I knew Tabitha was right. I’d wanted to create a focused and cut-throat environment. I had thought that was the best way of getting the most out of everyone. Lucy’s gentle suggestions about a more inclusive and open space floated through my mind, but I shoved all that down. I had to know what had happened.

“I want to see,” I said to Grant, whose eyebrows went up.

“Felix,” TBea said in a warning voice. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“I want to see what happened in my office to my girlfriend, right fucking now.”

“Your girlfriend?” Grant’s eyebrows went up as he looked at me. “With all due respect, Mr Moretti, I don’t think she’s your girlfriend anymore. You had her escorted from the building by security immediately after she’d been assaulted. I mean, I can be a bit of a shit with my missus, but I’ve never been that much of bastard.”

“After she was assaulted,” I said in a broken voice. “Oh my God.” I felt like I’d been winded, and staggered back to lean on my desk. Lucy’s face flashed in front of my vision then. She’d been so pale – her freckles standing out starkly against her ashen skin, her hands had been shaking. My gaze shot to the chair that she’d sunk into after she came into my office. I pictured her there, looking so small as I towered over her, her voice shaky and terrified.

“You’ve got to listen to me. Will is⁠—”

“Will might be a prick, but he’s nothing compared to what a low-life you are. At least he’s looking out for the company.”

My stomach hollowed out, and I thought for a moment I might vomit. I’d defended Brent after he’d assaulted the woman I… oh my God, the woman I love. I loved Lucy. I hadn’t even tried to hear her out. I didn’t care anymore if Lucy had sold information about the company. Screw the company. Lucy, my Lucy, had been hurt, and I hadn’t been there for her.

“I want to see that footage,” I said to Grant.

“After I’ve asked you some more⁠—”

“Now!” I barked, and Grant lowered his notebook to pin me with a furious look.

“I’m not one of your employees you can bark orders at, Mr Moretti,” Grant said in a low, angry tone. “I don’t think you understand the situation here. Your employee was assaulted on your company premises. Twice. You’re the one providing an unsafe work environment. I have questions for you, and you’re going to answer them to the best of your ability. Then, and only then, will I be sharing footage of the assault. You and your company are not calling the shots here. Am I clear?”

“Crystal,” I ground out.

What followed was a tortuous half-hour of questioning about Brent, about Lucy and my relationship with her, as well as Tabitha’s previous run-ins with Brent. All the while there was a low ringing in my ears. I needed to see Lucy, needed to check she was okay.

When we were finally done, Vicky came into the room with another officer. Vicky wasn’t the most expressive person emotion-wise, but she looked more visibly upset than I’d ever seen her. Lottie was with her this time. I wished Lottie had been here yesterday when I’d thrown Lucy out, but she’d been out at a meeting about her sister and, prick that I was, I wasn’t prepared to wait until she came back to confront Lucy, even when Vicky begged me to. Lottie would have known something was wrong. There’s no way she would have let this happen. Lottie can sense when someone’s lying with almost supernatural precision.

“We made a mistake,” Vicky said, as always stating the bloody obvious.

“Did Will do anything to you?” I asked.

Vicky shook her head in a series of quick jerks. “No, he’s scared of me.”

“You, Lottie?”

Lottie shook her head as well, and I could tell that she’d been crying. “I’m always with Vicky, and she’s right – that coward is terrified of her. But when I started here, I knew I recognised him. I was a waitress at one of Ollie’s bars, and Will was one of a table of blokes who harassed me until Ollie put a stop to it. Will wasn’t the ringleader, and he hadn’t done anything directly so it didn’t seem important. I didn’t want to snitch before I’d even started in the role. And yes, he sometimes stood too close and gave me the creeps, but I couldn’t exactly complain about him being a mouth breather with a shonky vibe.” She lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “And I needed this job.”

I closed my eyes slowly. How had I fucked everything up so badly? “Your job would never have been in question, Lottie.”

“I’m not good at reading people,” Vicky said to the police officer. “I don’t pick up on nonverbal cues. I have a…” she closed her eyes for a moment, a frustrated expression crossing her face, “I have a condition. Sometimes I don’t see things other people can see. I don’t judge social situations in the right way.” It was the first time I’d ever heard Vicky fully acknowledge her difficulties and certainly the first time I’d heard her describe it as a condition. She turned to me again. “Felix, I don’t think I should be overseeing people. People are not my strong suit. Even with Lottie helping me, I’m not…” she broke off, and I watched her swallow. “This is my fault,” she said in a quiet voice.

“We’ve been over this, hun,” Lottie said gently, laying her hand on Vicky’s arm. “You don’t have to carry all the responsibility.”

“Right, we’re heading back to the station,” Grant said. “We’ve got all we need for now.”

“The footage?” I asked.

“I’ve got it, Felix,” said Vicky, opening up her computer. The police left as Vicky opened the file, and then I watched the woman I love be assaulted right under my nose, right down the corridor from where I was bitching about her over some stupid irrelevant corporate spying. Because, just like my father, I prioritized my business over the people I cared about. Just like my father, I demanded absolute perfection from everyone around me, or else deemed them irrelevant.

When Lucy’s head bounced off the wall, I actually did retch and was nearly sick all over the desk. Then I watched as Lucy ran out of shot. Ran to me. I jumped to my feet then, pulling my phone out of my pocket as I strode towards the door. My only thought was to find her. To make sure she was okay. To look after her. I was at the lift when I dialled her number but stopped short when I heard a familiar ring tone from back down the corridor. Spinning on my heel, I followed the sound of the ring until I got to Lucy’s desk.

“Shit,” I muttered as I ended the call and reached for Lucy’s bag that was on top of her desk. I looked inside, and my heart sank when I saw her wallet and phone in there. How had she got home? Then my gaze fell to that bloody notebook, and I felt another flash of doubt. What if…? I picked it up and flicked it open to the first few pages. There were spider diagrams and maps covering every inch of the paper. It reminded me of the notebooks Lucy used to keep as a child, full of her story ideas and the details of the complicated worlds she created. Sprawled across the pages were what looked like character descriptions, story arcs, outlines of some kind of magical kingdoms and fictional family trees – what there wasn’t was any classified company information. Nothing that York would find in the least bit interesting. What the fuck was going on? What even was all this? I was so engrossed in studying Lucy’s intricately detailed pages that I didn’t hear the approaching footsteps. It wasn’t until I’d taken the punch and staggered back, dropping the notebook, that I was aware of my surroundings again.

“What the fuck,” I said, my hand not holding Lucy’s bag flying to my nose and coming away covered with blood. “Mike?”